Images

August 20, 2014 - Hurricane Julio (10E) in the North Pacific Ocean

Tropical Storm Julio continued to weaken as it moved through cooler waters of the Central Pacific Ocean, tracking far north of the Hawaiian Islands. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Julio on August 12, 2014, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying aboard to capture this true-color image of the storm. Although the storm sports a distinct apostrophe shape, the eye is cloud filled and it is asymmetric, with winds being pushed to the north. Such asymmetry suggests a storm is battling wind shear.

According to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC), by 2100 UTC (5:00 p.m. EDT) on August 12 – about 2 ½ hours before this image was captured - Julio was at tropical storm strength, with winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) and located at 28.8N and 157.5W, or about 520 mi north of Honolulu, Hawaii. The storm was moving northwest at 6 mph (9 km/h), skirting well north of the Hawaiian Islands.

Julio formed in waters well off the far southwest coast of Mexico, and was identified as a Tropical Depression by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on August 4. It strengthened over the next few days, peaking as a major hurricane, with winds of 120 mph (195 km/h) on August 8. After that time, it began a slow weakening. At 1500 UTC (11:00 a.m. EDT) on August 15, the CPHC issued its last advisory on Julio, stating it had dissipated as a tropical cyclone. It faced increasing wind shear as it continued to weaken, and posed no threats to land as it continued to move north of the Hawaiian Islands.